Friday, August 31, 2007

Drawn by the Lesser Light

A few nights ago my wife and I took our kayaks out on the bay near our home at dusk. Ever since a buddy and I had done it several weeks back and found it quite enjoyable, I had been eager for her to have the experience of paddling her small craft on open water at night. She had already proved herself capable of handling the boat in two to three foot wind-driven swells during the day, so I knew she was ready for the additional challenge of navigating in virtual darkness.

We started by shuttling one of our vehicles over to Long Beach Island and leaving it in the parking lot at the Ship Bottom boat access ramp (you can cut and paste these coordinates into Google Earth or your favorite mapping website to zoom in on this location: 39 39'08.82"N, 74 11'06.14"W). We then drove back across the causeway and put in on the mainland side near a little cove on Bay Avenue in Manahawkin. The wind was blowing out of the NE at about 10mph and there was a moderate chop. We paddled eastward out of the small protected area and a minute later we were out on the open bay, aiming for the long, narrow strip of barrier island ahead of us in the distance. The full moon was just rising and added its magic to the exceptionally beautiful scene we found ourselves in. I whipped out the camera and tried to take a few pictures in the diminishing light, but the churning water was making it impossible to keep the camera steady enough to get a good shot. Only one of the snaps came out good enough to post here.

trying my best to steady the camera

I put the camera back in its protected place and we forged ahead into the gradually increasing turbulence. By the time we were a mile out, the waves had grown to about two and a half feet and it took all our concentration to deal with them. It became too difficult to maintain our course parallel to the causeway which was also the shortest route to the other side, so we aimed the yaks almost directly into the approaching waves. It was much easier to face them head-on than try to maintain our balance with them coming at us from the side. While this made life somewhat more comfortable, it also made the crossing significantly longer. Our communication was impaired since it required yelling in order to be heard over the wind. It was also completely dark now and the moon was still too low to be of much help. The law requires small boats like ours to have a working flashlight on board and use it to warn any approaching vessel of our presence. Fortunately there were no other boats anywhere around so for the time being we didn't have to worry about fishing the flashlights out of our pockets while trying to stay upright... (note to self: from now on, hook the flashlights to the rigging just forward of the cockpits for easy access). Being able to see each other was an occasional problem too. On a previous nighttime paddling trip, I had gotten the idea to bring along a couple of those toy light sticks to make it easier to spot each other's silhouette on the dark horizon whenever we drifted more than 30 feet apart. I picked up a dozen at the local dollar store and remembered to bring two of them them along, but which pocket did I put mine in? Dare I stop paddling and try to dig it out? Nah, too risky. Although the water we were bobbing along in was very warm, I still didn't want to get soaked right now and then have to deal with re-entry in rough water. Even if I could roll the yak and right myself quickly without having to exit the cockpit, I still much preferred to stay dry... (note to self: from now on, activate the lightsticks and lash them on BEFORE paddling in turbulent water). So I kept a close eye on my partner and stayed near enough. By the way, she was doing fine and proving herself up to the task we were immersed in.

It took a lot of energy, and our prescription lenses were getting sprayed each time the bow of our boats crested a wavetop and slapped back down into the valley, but we managed it. Eventually, maybe an hour after we had set out, we got near enough to the main island for the water to quiet down. We cleaned our glasses and tried to figure out exactly where we were by looking for familiar landmarks and guessed that we were somewhere toward the north end of Surf City. Safe and sound now, we took a much deserved rest and downed a bottle of water each. The crossing was fun but intense, and it was now time to enjoy the reward of cruising along in some easy water. We turned south and casually paddled along the western shore of LBI. It was nice to be able to converse again at a normal volume.

It was amazing to us how far away the causeway bridge was from where we were now. We must have been halfway across the bay when we adjusted our course, and at that time we were right next to the huge concrete trestles that support the span. Turning the boats just a few degrees sure made a huge difference in where we ended up.

The moon was high enough in the sky now to provide plenty of illumination. We made some conversation with a few people who were out enjoying a warm summer's eve on their rear decks. It took us about 30 minutes of slow paddling to zigzag our way along the western shoreline of the island and make our way back to the causeway. As we approached the small bridge between Bonnet Island and LBI, we had to fight the tidal currents where all those millions of gallons of water funnel through four times a day. What's that they say... time and tides wait for no man? All that water had an appointment to be in a certain place at a certain time and nothing could stop it from keeping its schedule. But we also had a destination so we knifed our way through it and arrived at the boat ramp a minute or two later, sad that the trip was over. Wait... who says it has to be over? We agreed to extend the fun a bit and paddled back out with the goal of circumnavigating Bonnet Island. It ended up taking a bit longer than we anticipated, but that was fine with us. This added another 30 minutes to our outing and now we were ready to head home. We loaded 'em up and drove off into the night, grateful for the opportunity to have that experience.


Monday, August 20, 2007

One Small Piece of the Delaware

Since we enjoyed ourselves so much on last Sunday's float down the Raritan, we decided to explore another area waterway this weekend. After some deliberating, a trip down the mighty Delaware River was selected. The weather forecast was favorable for both days, so this time we figured we could add camping into the mix. This trip was a bit longer (about 27 miles) and took us both Saturday and Sunday to complete. Since we would be spending an overnight in the woods, it naturally required a little more planning as well. One issue we faced was whether to drive two vehicles up there and do our own shuttling or hire one of the local rental outfits to take us and our boats upstream. At current gasoline prices, I calculated that it would cost $62 round-trip in fuel alone for the second vehicle, and after several telephone inquiries I discovered that it wouldn't be THAT much more to have someone else do the shuttle part.

We woke early and drove two hours up to Marshall's Creek, PA where we paid the $80 freight to have our two kayaks, our gear, and ourselves taken upstream to our selected put-in at Dingman's Ferry. We then drove back across the bridge to the Delaware Water Gap Visitor Center where we planned to end our journey, advised a ranger that we intended to leave our vehicle there overnight, and waited for our shuttle driver. We didn't yet know that there were already several other groups ahead of us and waiting too. When the shuttle van-trailer combo arrived a short while later there was no room for us. However, we were assured the next shuttle would be by in only 15 minutes. So we waited... and waited. After 30 minutes I called the company and was told that they were a little behind schedule because one of their trucks had gotten a flat tire. Uh huh. At the one-hour mark I was assured by the dispatcher that our driver's arrival was imminent. Right. We ended up waiting there an hour and a half in total. That was AFTER having to drive over to Pennsylvania, wait 30 minutes in line at their actual place of business to sign a stupid waiver form and remit our money, then drive back across to New Jersey to park. This is precisely what we had feared about relinquishing control of any part of our trip to one of these liveries that make their business renting watercraft to tourists and ferrying them to and from the local access points along the river. We expected to lose some time when we decided to play it this way, but we didn't figure it would cost us three whole hours. My advice to anyone contemplating this or a similar trip is shuttle yourself if you possibly can.

It was 2:00pm when we finally pushed off from the boat ramp at Dingman's. Our original plan was to split the 27 miles approximately in half. Our pre-trip research indicated that there were five campsites located on Depew Island which suited our plan well, but now with this late start we would have to adapt and just wait and see how far we got. We knew there were other campsites along the banks which were closer, but our driver told us while en-route to Dingman's that since all those sites are free and on a first-come-first-served basis, they would likely be snapped up early, especially on a Saturday. This was not at all what we wanted to hear. After the long wait we just encountered, that news was like rubbing salt in our wounds. He recommended stopping no later than 5:00pm to improve our odds at getting any site at all. That only gave us three hours! Well, we were here to have fun so we just let all that go and figured whatever happens, happens. We left all of our misgivings and aggravation on the shore and headed south with the current.

Once underway, our attitude adjustment was immediately helped along by gorgeous blue skies, a perfect-for-anything 78 degree summer day, and a 10mph tailwind. Life was suddenly good again! The water was clear enough to see the bottom to a depth of about six feet, which meant that most of the trip we had a good view of the rocky floor zooming by below us. There are deeper eddies here and there, but mostly the river is wide and fairly shallow. We even touched bottom two or three times on gravel bars, but never got stuck anywhere. We zipped along at what felt like a brisk pace and never paddled hard in an effort to "make up time".

One huge difference between this trip and the last one was the amount of people on the water. There are dozens of livery outfits up and down this river who (it would appear) make a killing renting out boats by the hundreds. I couldn't begin to count how many people we saw floating along with us. That's not to say it detracted from our enjoyment at all, even though both my wife and I normally prefer to seek our adventures well OFF the beaten path. The Delaware is plenty big for all who want to experience its charms, at least it was on THIS section, on THIS day, for US. Perhaps the heavy traffic could be a problem in other sections. I certainly wouldn't want to have to wait my turn to run through a rapid or sluice, but that never happened on this trip. Then again, maybe it was because by the time WE came along, everyone had already quit for the day to claim their free campsite?

Speaking of rapids, there are many on this stretch of river but none rated higher than class I+. The guidebook says that this section is suitable for people with little or even no paddling experience. Since neither my wife nor I have a desire to run real whitewater in our kayaks, we felt this section would be a nice relaxing choice. The longer riffles and choppy sections, combined with the occasional two foot standing waves, still managed to quicken our pulse as we traversed them even though we have had our boats out on open bays in much more challenging situations. Don't forget that you can click on the pictures to enlarge them.

hunger pangs reminding us to eat


After two hours on the water we began to think about food. It was already four o'clock and well past the time we had planned to stop for lunch. All we had eaten since breakfast at 8:00am was one tomato each. Our food bag was stored in one of our hatches so we pulled up side-by-side in the middle of the stream and dug it out. We decided that rather than stopping and losing time eating on the riverbank, we would just eat in our boats while drifting with the current. So, apart from an occasional stroke here and there to keep ourselves aimed downstream, we did just that. It was actually quite comfortable, perhaps even more so than what we would have found ashore.

a capable pair at rest


Around 5:30pm we had made it a good 13 miles and all the way through "Walpack Bend" which is a giant S-curve in the river where it reverses direction twice. This bend adds a full three miles to the length of the river. We had made it much farther than we expected after that late start and had somehow managed to make up all that time without even trying. I suspect the tailwind was responsible. We could have even made it to our original target, Depew Island, but there was some question as to whether the campsites there had been obliterated in last year's flood. Without knowing for sure what awaited us downstream, we decided to take the next open site on the riverbank IF we were fortunate enough to find one unoccupied. Every site we had passed up to this point was taken so we had our doubts. But sure enough, a mile or so later we came upon a group of sites on the New Jersey side, saw an open one, and claimed it by beaching our craft on the adjacent shore. The next boater came along only two minutes later and took the site next to us which I believe was the last one available in this group of twelve sites, so we felt somewhat fortunate to get what we got.

stairway to heaven


The campsites in this area are on a shelf of land which is a short but nearly vertical twenty-foot climb up from the water. Ours had makeshift steps carved into the densely packed soil, as well as some exposed tree roots to grab onto that made the trip up and down a bit easier. We transported all of our camping and cooking gear up the hill and set up the tent. It is surprising how much stuff fits in the hatches of our kayaks. We brought a three-person tent, two sleeping bags, FOUR full-sized sleeping pads (in case we ended up having to sleep on a stony surface), a camp stove, a two-quart pot, an extra bottle of stove fuel, two Nalgene bottles, a water filter, miscellaneous items of clothing, a bunch of safety equipment (bilge pump, PFD, etc.), and many, many smaller items (plates, bowls, utensils, flashlights, camera, guidebook, toilet paper, a collection of personal items, etc). ALL of this fit inside the yaks except for one sleeping pad each and my wife's camp chair (and of course the PFDs which have to be easily accessible if they are not worn). We had pre-loaded the boats with all this gear before we left home which added maybe 15-20 pounds to each and made putting them on the roofracks a two-person job, but at least we didn't have to deal with all that at the put-in site. When we were back in the parking lot at the visitor center and everybody was loading their stuff onto the trailer (we were being shuttled along with several other people who were doing the same route as us but were using rented canoes), it was almost comical watching the other boaters haul their heavy coolers and seemingly endless garbage bags of equipment and supplies to the trailer. As the shuttle driver and I put our two boats on his racks he asked, "Where's all your stuff?" My normal joking self would have feigned naivety and replied, "What stuff?", but since the long wait was anything BUT funny, I wasn't in a joking mood.

flat, dry, tastefully appointed, and private... no complaints


But that was then and this was now. Our camp was high and dry and very comfortable. The site was private enough -- only our neighbors to the north were even visible -- and the view from our perch overlooking the river was very pretty. We sat and stuffed ourselves with a wonderful pasta meal as the last light of the day shimmered off the water's surface. A few paddlers were still straggling by, no doubt desperately searching the banks for any sign of a suitable camp. Certainly all the "official" sites were gone by now and they would have to make-do with something less. I have been there and done that on previous trips, so I am well acquainted with what they were feeling. After a bit of cleanup and organizing things around camp, we sat quietly for a few minutes to savor the feeling of accomplishment. We were both exhausted and had eaten too much so we decided to forgo exploring our surroundings and were instead comfortably ensconced in our warm sleeping bags by 9:00pm.

part of the view from inside our tent


check out those cool shoes!



check out these even COOLER shoes!



The morning brought with it an overcast sky, and it even sprinkled briefly while we were still lounging in our tent. Maybe it will clear up as the day progresses we thought as we casually reviewed the guidebook, memorizing which route to take around each island we would encounter on the remaining portion of our journey. We eventually got up, prepared and ate the oatmeal we had brought for breakfast (quick and easy is the rule we follow when deciding what foods to take with us on camping trips), and then began to pack our stuff back in the boats. Most of the other campers around us had already left by the time we hit the water trail again. When I checked the forecast the night before we came up here, it called for a partly cloudy day with no rain expected until late Sunday night, but the sky suggested that rain was coming sooner than that. How much sooner was the question but we were not gonna worry about that now. It would have been easy to add a poncho to our caboodle, but silly me believed the weather experts and decided to omit that piece of equipment on this trip. Lesson learned. As it turned out, there were only a few spritzes during the course of the day and thankfully the real rain held off until after we were finished and on our way home.

on the "road" again


We enjoyed the second day of leisurely paddling and even stopped a few times to explore islands, including Depew where we had intended to camp. It was a good thing that we camped where we did because we did not find any good spots here, although we didn't completely circumnavigate it so we may have missed something on the eastern shore. Still, from what we DID see on our twenty-minute recon, it looked like the flood had taken its toll on this little piece of high ground in the middle of the river. There were piles of debris wherever strainers had been created by the raging flow. One could sleep here in a pinch, but there are much better spots to spend the night.

P B & J anyone?


We stopped for lunch at a small park along the Pennsylvania side called Smithfield Beach. There are picnic tables, a guarded swimming area, and restrooms available here, and since we arrived by boat we avoided the fee charged at the gate to use those facilities. There were a few little kids skipping stones from the shore when we pulled up and they were curious about our boats and our journey. After some friendly questions and answers, I charged them with the task of keeping an eye on our boats while we ate since they would be out of our field of vision.


target acquired... fire when ready!


There is a three-mile long stretch of quiet water upstream from this park that (according to the guidebook) is popular with motor boaters. We only saw one while passing through this section. There is a string of buoys to keep the motorized craft away from the paddlers. Downstream from the park we passed several more islands that looked worthy of exploration, but we left that for another day. We cruised past Worthington State Forest Campground on the eastern shore. At one point there were several unseen kids making very loud and realistic animal sounds from somewhere along the heavily-wooded bank. We mused that this must be where the famous Delaware Water Gap Zoo is located. Eventually we made our way into the actual "gap". This is a very picturesque spot with mountains rising up dramatically on either side of the river. The well trodden Appalachian Trail passes through this notch, and in previous years I have had the pleasure of hiking and camping along that trail in both directions from where I sat now. It's quite a different thing to see the gap from the vantage point of floating through it and I feel blessed to have experienced both now.

the I-80 span


It was with some measure of sadness that we came ashore for the last time, marking the end of this adventure. It was also another thoroughly enjoyable trip from start to finish, assuming we could forget that livery fiasco, which was much easier to do now that we had accomplished our mission. It took only fifteen minutes to empty our boats and load everything on the Jeep. As we pulled out on to eastbound I-80, we were already looking forward to the next trip.

the infamous Delaware Water Gap


Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Paddling the Raritan River

I guess the best place to start the first post of my first blog is with my most recent experience. This past Sunday, my wife and I paddled our kayaks along a section of the Raritan River in central New Jersey. Although I now live about 90 miles from this location, I grew up in a little town called Hillsborough which borders this waterway. In all those years I spent living only a few miles from its banks, I never once had the pleasure of exploring it by boat... until now.

Our day began by shuttling a second car (belonging to a relative) to our take-out point at a small park in South Bound Brook. This enabled us to traverse a longer section of the river since we would not have to turn around and paddle upstream to get back to our vehicle. Once the second car was in place, we drove out to our starting point on Blackpoint Road at the western edge of Neshanic Station. We had scouted this put-in a few days prior from the comfort of our home using Google maps. We toggled to the satellite view where you can zoom in quite close for amazing detail. For example, when I look at my own house, I can clearly see the trampoline we have in our backyard. Anyway, it is a very useful tool when planning adventures of this sort.

Conveniently, we were able to back our Jeep up the 100 or so feet through some tall grass right to the riverbank to unload everything, then parked the car closer to the country road in case others wanted to do likewise.
It was a clear day with plentiful sunshine on tap, so a little strategically placed sunscreen was in order. We loaded up the yaks with a few essentials and pushed off at 10:30am. We were immediately immersed in the experience we had come for: solitude, peace, and quiet. Cornfields to the left of us, a dense forest to the right of us, and the only sounds to be heard were natural in origin. I can't adequately describe how relaxing it was once we got going, so soothing, like an antidote for the hustle and bustle of our busy lives.

a pastoral setting


About 20 minutes worth of serenity later, we came to the Elm Street bridge where we encountered a small set of rapids through a few boulders. I think this may be the site of an old dam, but I'm not sure about that. In any case, after helping my wife portage her boat around this, I decided to give it a whirl. I made it through just fine and this turned out to be the most challenging water we would encounter all day. If it's whitewater you are looking for, this is not the trip for you
. I know that the water level on this river varies greatly with season and rainfall amounts, so consequently any descriptions given here that are affected by the flow volume may not be useful to someone who happens to stumble upon this blog. That said, my wife discovered a useful website for checking water levels. The site is playak.com and there you can find both current and recent historical data for many rivers, including the Raritan. Incredibly, the info is updated several times a day! According to their graph, the flow rate on the date of our trip was approximately 400 cfs as measured at the Manville bridge. We encountered a few shallow spots (mostly west of the confluence with the Raritan's North Branch) where our boats brushed the gravelly bottom, so you might want to consult that website before selecting your put-in location.

one of many


We did encounter many other brief sections of easy rapids during the course of the day, but nothing that required any skill to negotiate. Again, a water level change of only a foot or two might result in a considerable difference, so keep that in mind.

We pretty much had the whole river to ourselves... I only remember seeing 4 other boats all day. The current swept us along at a decent pace, so half the time we were just gliding silently, soaking up the summer sun and seeing how close we could get to herons before they took flight. They were plentiful but never let us get near enough for a good picture. Most of the time we had the sense of being way out in the country even though this stream drains some of the most densely populated real-estate in New Jersey.

coulda gone around, but what fun is that?


We had to portage around a total of 4 dams, each of which took 30-45 minutes by the time we scoped it out and performed the task. Any subsequent trips on this stretch would require less portage time since we now know which side of the river offers the easiest detour
around those pesky obstacles. "Duke Island Park" is located almost in the center of our route, so we had a nice, relaxing, one-hour lunch of deli sandwiches and fresh cherries at a picnic table not twenty feet from the scenic riverbank. All day my wife and I were wondering how it can be that there are ALL those hundreds of thousands of people living within a 20 minute drive of this beautiful natural resource, but yet so few were out there enjoying it with us on this picture-perfect summer afternoon. Oh, well... their loss and our gain! We were never bothered by bugs of any sort, unless you count colorful dragonflies as pests. We rather enjoyed their company and didn't mind letting them hitch a ride on our boats for as long as they cared to. Aside from the occasional fisherman casting for trout, we saw very few people actually IN the river. During the late afternoon hours we passed a group of three friendly high school or college-age boys who were chillin in their tubes, enjoying a slow meander down a REAL lazy river (as opposed to those fashioned from concrete). A short while later, we came upon a huge pack of maybe 20 younger kids climbing like monkeys on an old iron railroad bridge, then screaming and leaping off from astonishing heights into the water below. If their mothers only knew where they were and what they were doing! But it was quite entertaining for us and we regret not getting any pictures of this.

three down, one to go


When we got to the last dam on our route which was located just downstream from where the Millstone River adds its volume to the Raritan's, the most convenient option seemed to be to portage the boats over to the canal which parallels the Raritan from this point to New Brunswick. We were now within two miles of our final destination. Shortly after entering the canal, my wife spied an apple tree overhanging the water so I went over for a sample. They tasted as good as store-bought so I used my paddle to dislodge a few of the larger and higher-up fruit from their branches and then plucked the ones I didn't catch out of the water. We could have brought home enough for a dozen pies if we wanted to. My sweetie got a good laugh at my expense when about ten fell at once like bombs splashing all around me.

lovin' every minute


When we finally pulled the boats out for the last time, it was exactly 7:00pm and we were 17 river-miles from where we started. As you can see, we did manage to get a few pictures here and there. Since we didn't have any way of protecting our camera out on the water, we took it out sparingly and only in flat water, so unfortunately there are only a few. Also,
my wife was the keeper of the camera on this trip so (sadly) I ended up in more pictures than she. I think if you click on the images you can view the full-sized versions for more detail. The bridge shot makes a nice desktop background.


Intro

Do you enjoy outdoor activities such as hiking, biking, and paddling? The goal of this blog is to create a permanent record of the adventures and experiences I have enjoyed over the years, and possibly even pass along some useful information to the occasional passerby in the process. If anyone does actually read some of this stuff, I would be pleasantly surprised. Your comments are encouraged and appreciated. This whole blogging thing is brand new to me so bear with me as I learn the ropes.